JeffMOD's Compo 29 Entry

My entry for Compo 29; It's in mod format, but requires HL2 to run. As it's a 7z file, you'll need Either 7-Zip or Winrar to open it.

Alternate History Background:
The Second World War ended with the German bombing of London, Manhattan, and Washington DC with atomic bombs, and the subsequent surrender of Russia, the United States, and Great Britain and its colonies to the Nazi Regime. Though the war officially ended in 1942, fighting did not end entirely until Hitler?s death in 1986, causing the Nazi empire to crumble. Among the most prominent heads of the resistance was Mikhail Kalashnikov, who, disillusioned by Russia?s surrender, took his designs for a better weapon and disappeared into the rubble of Moscow, forgotten by all until 1947, when his designs came to fruition, held in the hands of rebels worldwide. In the years following, many died trying to wrestle the world free of the Nazis through what was widely regarded at the time as "Terrorist attacks".
One such incident happened in October 18, 1978, when a man known only by the alias ?John Smith?, armed with only a crowbar, a Colt 1911, and a now lost variant of the AK-47, bombed an embassy in Munich, entering and exiting the building through a maintenance tunnel network and making a bloody escape through the industrial centre that ended the lives of many of the city?s most brutal Gestapo officers and troops, as well as a committee of high-ranking Nazi officials that died in the blast. Such loss in the centre of an urban area was not able to be censored, and the attack struck a major blow to morale for Nazi supporters worldwide. It is disputed among historians how Smith escaped. Some records mention a monk and a boat, while others mention a young woman and a car, and others still detail a passage out of the city by train.
Following Hitler?s death (Whether or not it was suicide or an assassination is still unclear) the Nazi regime fell, it?s officials hunted down, and a large memorial was erected in Berlin to commemorate the men and women who died as a direct result of, and in objection of, the Genocides perpetrated by the Nazis, as well as the contributions of the resistance to the weakening of the empire.

Credits of files not made by me:
Colt Pistol by Strangemodu13 (Full list at http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/28635 )
AKs-74u by Blind5 (Full list at http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/72834 )

I don't use combine soldiers, and I slightly reskinned the metrocops. Since they're originally based off of the SS, I think it's fine, thanks.
Also, Cstriker, what makes you say that and how would I go about doing it?

planetphillip hosts alot of hl2 players who would be eager to play your map. phillip's ppl also used to play twhl maps (long time ago). Since phillip himself has to post your maps I think it might be a bit of a hassle.

Ok, I had a try at it and I must say it is nice overall, but there are a few flaws. First of all, I am going to say that it begins to be hard to rate maps on TWHL.
While other maps that are quite shitty get rated 4 stars(I know an example, don't I?), rating this map 5 stars would be a bit unfair. So let's go on.

Generally starting a player's appetite with a background story is a good idea, and it partially worked in this one too. Except the fact that you are providing only the escape part in the game, while I was expecting to plant a bomb somewhere. You practically left me craving for that part. I was a bit disappointed. Of course, I do not have pretensions because it was a time limited compo and you don't have all the time in the world, so I forgive this... mistake that would otherwise have been considered laziness. I also have to point out that without reading the Readme file, the gameplay had no sense.

Gameplay
Most of the time the gameplay was pretty balanced, although in some places the number of ...military men(nazibines, am I right?) was visibly higher than in others( for example, the last combat was between me and a single soldier near the end, which was a bit disappointing- some rappelling soldiers on the wall would've been better). Although I wasn't expecting to get a headshot every first time, the aiming wasn't easy at all. Or is that just an impression of mine?
Also, a weird moment was when a woman picked up a pistol and started following me while pointing it towards me:
Hit the road Jack! or rather John...

Initially I thought this was the woman that found another route and was waiting for me at the end, but when I replayed the second time 2 women picked up pistols and pointed them at me. Women hate me :(. Also, that woman was not presented in the story, I can only reffer her as ... "the woman". What was her actual role in the story?
I also find disappointing the fact that I was expecting at least one small puzzle, but it never appeared. It was straight advancing through the 2 levels and pure combat.

Architecture\Lighting\Textures\Sound(Overall Ambience)

I can see some valve mapping style in this map. The ambience and gameplay is designed in such a way that it distracts my player eyes from the lack of details. My critic eyes immediately spotted the familiar non-detailed parts. I don't say this is really a flaw, the architecture is not pretentious but it works, although there is some kind of a garage where the walls were just too empty. Don't worry, I've seen a lot like this in the half-life series too. Not all the time you have to apply tons of details, and your mod is not affected almost at all by some lack of it.
The last scene was clearly inspired from half-life 2. There is a pretty small detail there that made the next scene have no sense. How do you expect me to believe that train is going to start when there is a fence in front of it?
I have nothing to comment about the textures, they pretty much integrate in the atmosphere of the 70'. I do have about lighting. The HDR made some places a bit over exposed, and remember the garage I was talking earlier? What's with that super bright light there?
The sound ambience was good, so nothing to comment there.

Of course there probably many more things to say if I'd take every part of the map to discuss, but I sincerely don't have time. Even considering all the problems I exposed, your mod still deserves 5 stars.
Why? Because you had a small time span in which to finish it, and you made something worth playing.
And congratulations for the 2nd place ;).

+/-Decent gameplay if not too easy
+/-it was cool to have that women to follow(as if a guide of some sort), but i feel it could have been developed better.

--lacking fine detail in most places
--all npcs are muted and all but that one women seem to fufill no role. you could at leas have them whispering in the shadows or something1 =)
--when i got to the door with the spraypainted skull(after the generator room where i had to noclip cuz i couldn't figure how to get up there) and crossbones on the door, i couldn't figure out where to go next. =(

All told an lot of work went into this, 5 stars for you labour!
=)
*****

A few things:
The fence in front of the train is supposed to be a gate; if you listen closely once you're in the train you should hear it moving.
The women that "guide you" are actually running away. I didn't script them to do that, just as I didn't script them to pick up the guns. It's just the citizen AI mixed with them being scripted to fear you, And I couldn't really prevent it from happening.
And stu: That area is just a secondary, optional location, there's a door in the other corner. As for how to get up there? Ever seen Goldeneye? Mix the opening sequence with a HL2 physics puzzle.

I also don't really know how to do HDR properly, it always seems to have too high exposure.
Thanks for the ratings and feedback!